A U.S. House committee has advanced a bill that would give Congress more control over artificial intelligence chip exports. The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the measure by a wide margin on Wednesday.
The vote came despite strong opposition from White House AI adviser David Sacks and a public campaign against the bill on social media.
What the bill would change
Representative Brian Mast of Florida introduced the proposal in December. He did so after President Donald Trump approved shipments of Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips to China.
The bill, known as the AI Overwatch Act, would allow key lawmakers to review export licenses for advanced AI chips. Under the plan, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee would have 30 days to examine each license. They could block exports to China and other countries seen as rivals.
In addition, the latest version of the bill would ban Nvidia’s most powerful Blackwell chips. Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of New York supported this version, giving the bill backing from both parties.
Strong committee support
During Wednesday’s vote, 42 committee members backed the bill. Two voted against it, and one voted present. According to one source, its chances improved after a media push last week that challenged critics of the proposal.
Arguments from supporters
Before the vote, Mast said the issue goes far beyond consumer technology. He argued that advanced chips shape the future of warfare, not video games. In his view, Congress must step in to protect national security.
Other lawmakers echoed that point. Republican Representative Michael McCaul of Texas accused well-funded interest groups of trying to derail the bill. He said these groups stand to profit from chip sales and are running online attacks to stop oversight.
Pushback and political tension
NVIDIA did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did the White House nor David Sacks.
Last week, Sacks shared a post on X that claimed the bill was driven by political opponents of Trump. The post also accused Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei of pushing the issue through former Biden-era staffers. Sacks replied with a single word agreeing with the post.
An Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment. However, Amodei has publicly warned against selling advanced chips to China. Speaking this week in Davos, he said shipping such technology would be a serious mistake and compared it to selling nuclear weapons to a hostile state.
Debate likely to continue
Conservative activist Laura Loomer and others have also attacked the bill online. They argue it harms U.S. interests under the cover of oversight.
Still, supporters say the measure remains essential. With the committee vote complete, the bill now heads to the full House and then the Senate, where debate is expected to intensify.
